First the caveat… and I will keep doing this as people tend to lunge at
perceived mistakes… I am in Timberhaven, a group that is a chapter of Vikings
North America. Our goal is to do public demonstrations that educate and
entertain. We have specific parameters governing “authenticity”. We have plenty
of pretentious names we like to call ourselves.
The SCA, LARP, Cosplay, et al.
entities have different goals and varying degrees of “mission statements” and
all are fine.
This blog is from the Timberhaven-VNA perspective.
Our clothing we wear, soft kit, is our #1 interface with the public. Tents,
ships, armor, racks of weapons, giant looms, all that is cool but the #1 way we
interact and educate the public is through our clothing. We show up, they see
us, we interact. A solid soft kit can be stored easily (with some care) and can
be whooped out in a moment’s notice and with that and our sharp-wits we are
educating the public. It’s a lot harder to haul around martial kit and 4 chest
full of tools, food and feast, craft, and loot.
With that in mind our soft-kits
need to be spot on per our standards. Before I show someone a scale and bowls of
hack silver I will be showing them the cuffs of my tunic. They will ask about my
shoes and my cap before they ask about my helmet and axe… though archery
equipment is a close second.
Your clothing is what will catch the eye and
provoke interaction. It’s the first thing they see when they get close (the
banner and helmet help from a distance).
In Timberhaven we require all members
to have a solid Basic Kit. This includes:
Linen shirt (dress)
Wool tunic (dress)
Pants or hose in wool (optional for women)
Belt (optional for women)
Shoes
Knife
Cup, bowl, spoon satchel, basket, bag
Scarf / kerchief for head
*optional
wool cloak (blanket)
*optional wool cap
With this basic kit you are in acceptable appearance in ALL ERAS AND REGIONS of the Scandinavian Early Medieval period. 99.9% of the time this works all the time.
Further, the more basic your kit the less scrutiny it will get.
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| Basic Viking costume at a Glance - www.aidan-campbell.co.uk Spring 2010 |
With this basic kit you are in acceptable appearance in ALL ERAS AND REGIONS of the Scandinavian Early Medieval period. 99.9% of the time this works all the time.
Further, the more basic your kit the less scrutiny it will get.
When you start adding decoration for instance –
trim to necklines, jewelry, things dangling off the belt – you start to invite
concepts like making sure your fancy-bits are time and region congruent. A
trained eye will see you wearing a Mjolnir from 11th century Iceland with a
belt buckle from 8th century Denmark. You will also open yourself up to not “authentic”
(and by that I mean “authenticity authorized” decorum) recreations by craftspeople and marketed as "historical!". Beware.
You also need to play the game of “what
social-status am I playing?” – are you low-status, middle-status, or
high-status? What does that even mean? What sub-status are you portraying within
said status? Do I carry a shovel (hard to get BTW) or a sword (really easy to
get BTW).
Mix all of the above with textile thread counts and color and you’ve got some
reading and learning to do… or listen to the authenticity officer and let go of
your dreams.
Vikings North America standards can slide a bit and are not as
strict as some of the other high-fidelity groups out there. Well, groups and
individuals. I‘ve seen some individuals that are not in groups that push
extremely high standards – like why even
do this if your wool is not hand weaved militants – and Timberhaven allows “growth
and evolution” amongst the membership as well as safety and financial caveats.
You can wear your glasses while plodding about and we understand that a good
wool tunic will cost you around $200 give or take $100.
After you get your basic kit and you gain some credibility you should then move
on to something a bit more advanced like a higher status or warrior kit or some
such. Remember the differences in era and region, especially in jewelry art
styles and rarer finds. ALWAYS be able to explain where everything you are
wearing is from and when.
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